Online Harassment Is On The Rise – Here’s How To Combat It

According to a new survey by Norton by Symantec – it has increased 20 per cent in the last year from 50 per cent to a staggering 70 per cent.

Here’s How To Combat Online Harassment

Three simple steps – review, recognise and report. It’s that simple.

REVIEW your online presence on all devices:

Check your security and privacy settings.

Regularly change passwords.

RECOGNISE the problem if it happens and move quickly:

Do not respond to the perpetrator.

Keep all records and evidence of the harassment by making a copy of the message, photo or video.

If you are witness to online harassment, help by supporting the person targeted and, depending on the situation, letting the perpetrators know that their behaviour is not acceptable.

REPORT:

If someone says or does something that is inappropriate or deemed as harassment, report it to the relevant authorities immediately.

If inappropriate content is displayed online, contact the website operators by phone or email, requesting the content be removed or blocked.

More About The Study

The study aims to understand exposure to online harassment ranging from unwanted conflict, trolling, character assassinations, and cyberbullying to sexual harassment and threats of physical violence, as well as the impacts of these experiences.

It showed a general increase of people experiencing online harassment across all age groups with the 40+ age group showing the most significant rise in reports from 37 per cent in 2016 to 61 per cent in 2017.

Online Harassment Is On The Rise

The under 30s continue to be the most targeted age group, with 85 per cent reporting online harassment as well as being more likely to be victim of more serious forms of online abuse such as cyberbullying, cyberstalking and sexual harassment.

Melissa Dempsey, Senior Director, Asia Pacific and Japan at Norton by Symantec said the survey revealed that all members of the community were affected by online harassment, and while the number of incidents in each case may be limited to one or two rare events, it was concerning that the total number of reports had increased.

“Online or cyber harassment continues to be a real threat for both young and old,” Dempsey said. While the increased number of incidents could be due to people now feeling more confident to speak up, the fact that reports of online bullying and abusive behaviour is on the rise requires immediate action in terms of online users’ security and privacy.”

Mild harassment now common threat for younger minority groups

Experience of abuse and insults (53 per cent) as well as malicious gossip and rumours (43 per cent) are now commonplace.

This kind of mild harassment is most commonly experienced amongst younger Australians with 67 per cent reporting abuse and insults, with certain minority groups including the physically disabled (59 per cent), LGBTIQ community (66 per cent) and those with weight issues (66 per cent) or poor mental health (69 per cent) more likely to be victims. These high incidences could be attributed to young adults’ regular use of popular social media profiles such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat.

Threats of physical violence, cyberbullying and cyberstalking reports on the rise

Report of threats of physical violence more than doubled since the last survey up from 16 per cent to 35 per cent, with younger men and people with minority status being more likely to be targeted.

Cyberbullying and cyberstalking reports also increased significantly from 20 per cent to 33 per cent and 15 per cent to 29 per cent respectively. Cyberbullying is especially a concern for younger Australians (57 per cent), those in the LGBTIQA community (55 per cent) and people suffering from poor mental health (48 per cent).

When it came to identifying perpetrators of cyberbullying, men were more likely to say their bullies’ identities were unknown (39 per cent) or total strangers (30 per cent). 28 per cent of women who had experienced bullying said that they had been bullied by a former friend or an acquaintance.

While young women were only a little more likely to be targeted by sexual harassment than men, the range and variety of sexual abuse they receive is greater. Of those that had experience abuse:

48 per cent of women compared to 31 per cent of men reported said they had people send sexual comments and messages on social media accounts.

Requests for sexually explicit photographs/images was significantly higher for women with 44 per cent reporting this complaint than men (25 per cent).

Women also reported more instances of receiving unwanted graphic/sexual pornographic material as well as being pestered for dates by someone who would not take no for an answer.

Alarmingly, 77 per cent of men surveyed said that they do not know anyone who has suffered from online harassment, however 70 per cent have experienced it themselves. This indicates that most men do not share these experiences with their peers.

Robyn Foyster is the owner and publisher of Women Love Tech. She is CEO of AR Tech and helped develop it new shopping app Sweep. An award-winning journalist and former Editor-In-Chief of The Australian Women's Weekly. She is also the owner and publisher of GameChangers.com.au and TheCarousel.com. Robyn runs her own media business, Foyster Media. She was a judge of the 2018 & 2017 Telstra Business Awards. CEO of AR Tech and helped develop the Sweep app.